Cell Phones Bring Power to Africans Living Off the Grid
- Customers to use MTN’s mobile-money app to pay for solar power
- Fenix plans to enter up to 10 African countries by 2021
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Fenix International, a San Francisco startup making solar-power systems for people with no access to electricity grids, is expanding in Africa through a partnership with the continent’s largest wireless carrier.
The company is extending its partnership with MTN Group Ltd. to Zambia, targeting close to 1 million new users in the country over the next three years. Customers will use MTN’s mobile-money app to pay as little as $0.20 a day until they own the solar-panel and battery system, which is about the size of a personal computer and helps people charge mobile phones and light up homes.